


Between Canons: Not Fade Away

by elisi



Series: My Immortal [3]
Category: Angel: the Series, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s05e22 Not Fade Away, Fill-in-the-Blank, Gen, Illyria is a God, Standalone, The Battle in the Alley, The Time War (Doctor Who), Tying together all the canons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22952572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisi/pseuds/elisi
Summary: What happened after the fade-to-black.
Series: My Immortal [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1521254
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Between Canons: Not Fade Away

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of two standalone ‘Fill-in-the-Blank’ stories (one short, one long) for My Immortal. The purpose of the stories is to tie together major events in the Who- and Buffy-verses, ironing out inconsistencies, and you need no knowledge of (or interest in) 'My Immortal' to read them. 
> 
> (And yes, that ought to be the War Doctor on the beautiful banner made by KathyH, but back when I first wrote these stories the War Doctor wasn't even a twinkle in Moffat's eye.)

_The Doctor: Ten million ships on fire - the entire Dalek race wiped out in one second.  
The last Dalek: And what of the Time Lords?  
The Doctor: Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost. _

**An alley in Los Angeles. 19th May 2004.**

The world is a curtain of rain and blood, through which Illyria battles the oncoming hordes. Bones and bodies break beneath her hands, and beside her the swords of the vampires slice through demon flesh with deadly precision.

Grief is still as fresh as an open wound within, her thirst for vengeance not quenched in the least by the violence she is wreaking. She wishes for this battle to be as eternal as her wrath.

And then everything stops. 

_[A drop of blood hangs suspended in midair. A deadly blow is frozen midstrike. A scream cut off as with a blade.]_

Somewhere - _somewhen_ \- the entirety of creation trembles. And although she is far, far removed from the centre of the storm, Illyria can still sense the grandeur and finality of a nameless war with such an unthinkable outcome.

A war that has been fought outside time and space - out of all knowledge of Lower Beings. It has been hidden, even to her, until this moment, when a force, greater than any she’s known, sears across reality; burning, destroying, obliterating.

Billions of voices screaming, and then abruptly ended.

The universe shifts around her, and she feels the very foundations of the world change - irrevocably, irredeemably - as the walls between dimensions close, growing unbreachable and impenetrable.

She knows this is new, and yet the alteration is somehow eternal, timeless, come from that point beyond which she cannot see - the aftershocks hitting her like waves crashing on a beach. 

The unknown and unknowable war sealed away and hidden, forever.

And the world is suddenly alone - no Power or deity will ever again be able to reach across the void in an attempt to lay claim to this human-ruled sphere. 

Slowly 

_[it has been a fraction of a second; it has been lifetimes. Frozen time shatters like glass and a drop of blood falls on her cheek]_

she once more becomes aware of the melee around her; a fight that now seems small and trivial, reminding her only of the glory and power she has lost. 

Why is she here?

Turning her head she sees Angel, the destroyer of the Circle of the Black Thorn, and she knows that the machine he sought to halt for just a moment has been broken for good. Was this the intention of the Powers? Did They know? Did They choose this moment on purpose?

He looks up and stills when he sees her, immobile in the fray.

But before he can open his mouth, she answers the question he doesn’t know to ask.

“You win.”


	2. Notes

Firstly, the quote I used, but in full. It's the Doctor talking to a Dalek that fell out of time, and doesn't know what happened:

_DALEK: I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders.  
THE DOCTOR: Well you're never gonna get any. Not ever.  
DALEK: I demand orders!  
THE DOCTOR (voice rising): They're never gonna come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire - the entire Dalek race wiped out in one second.  
DALEK: You lie!  
THE DOCTOR: I watched it happen. I MADE it happen!  
DALEK: You destroyed us?   
The Doctor's expression changes. He walks away, his back turned on the Dalek.  
THE DOCTOR (quietly): I had no choice.  
DALEK: And what of the Time Lords?   
THE DOCTOR: Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War*. Everyone lost._

Now one major problem with trying to get BtVS/AtS and Doctor Who/Torwchood to fit togther is the almost casual dimension jumping in the former, something that is _impossible_ in the latter. (Well more or less, but it’s something that shouldn’t be possible, and can usually only be achieved with great difficulty.)

However, there is a conversation between Mickey and the Doctor when they accidentally fell through the void (the space between dimensions) into a different world, and Mickey questioned the Doctor’s worry:

_Mickey: But... I've seen it in comics. People are hopping from one alternative world to another - it's easy.  
The Doctor (withering look): Not in the real world. (pause) Used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind._

This makes clear that it _was_ possible, so all we have to assume is that BtVS/AtS took place before the (last) Time War. 

And what better time for this sealing of dimensions than _Not Fade Away_? It would stop the Powers’ plan to destroy the Circle of the Black Thorn from being just a temporary measure against the Senior Partners’ apocalypse, but a permanent destruction of Wolfram & Hart’s main tool of world destruction. And we know that they live on a different plane/reality, so the sealing of dimensions would affect them too. (Why yes, I felt very clever when I thought of it! *g*) Also, whether they live or die, team Angel’s efforts would not be in vain! 

And it seemed logical that Illyria would be able to sense something on such a scale, although she’d not know exactly what had happened.

I also thought the premise would work well with my _'The Slayers die out in the 21st Century'_ theory. If the threat of hell dimensions (& hellmouths) is eliminated, then the number of demons finite, leaving only vampires as a major threat. And with an army of Slayers, vampires could probably be wiped out completely. (I figure that the demons would over time become more accepted by humanity, esp. if aliens became commonplace, and in time their origin - whatever it might be - would be lost.)

Finally - from a structural and writerly perspective I like ending on 'You win', as it contrasted beautifully with the Doctor's 'Everyone lost'* in the quote. In this interpretation something good _does_ come out of the Doctor's actions.

*The Time War: _The Doctor: There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost._

'I win' (or 'You win') is also a repeated line throughout New Who, and very loaded with meaning.


End file.
